He was still lying in his hospital bed, talking to his sister, when everything started going to shit. At least Shuri wasn't screaming at him anymore. After Tony exited the room, he and Shuri had managed to speak like somewhat civilized adults for a few minutes, they had apologized to each other for the things they had said and done. Most of it was on T'Challa's part, since he was the one who had been completely in the wrong.
They were in the middle of discussing his future in Wakanda when the lights went out and a flashing red alarm started blaring throughout the room.
Shuri looked to him with concern. "T'Challa? What is tha-" The call cut abruptly off in the middle of Shuri's question. He forced himself up to his elbows.
"Friday?!" T'Challa called into the erie light, "What's happening?" He could see people running past the window in his room. The hallway outside was also shrouded in the erie red lights.
He prayed to Bast he wouldn't have to flee the tower. If he had get out fast he was in trouble, he was basically nude, he couldn't see and the oxygen he was currently hooked to would definitely hamper his movement.
"I'm afraid I'm not sure Your Highness. An explosion of unknown origin was detected in Boss's workshop. My sensors in there have been heavily damaged an I am unable to determine the cause. Whatever caused the explosion is has also caused most of the tower's systems to malfunction, there is an unknown source of code I am detecting within the systems and within my own coding that is resistant to my attempts to disable it."
"The workshop? Friday, Shuri sent him something, he was going to the workshop. What did she send? Did it do this?" T'Challa panted out as he tried to rise from the bed. His body was sluggish from days of disuse. He ripped off the canula and rose to his feet, the room spun momentarliy before settling into normalcy. The screaming alarm was not going to help his headache.
"The items Her Highness sent didn't register as dangerous during their scan, they are not the direct cause of the explosion. Your Highness, the reactor running the tower has gone into emergency shutdown mode to prevent any damage or tampering from outside sources. The tower is now in full evac mode. I need you to remain calm and proceed to the stairway, help is coming."
He braced himself against the wall, "Was Tony in the workshop when it happened?"
"Yes, he and Dr. Banner were the only two inside. Bruce, as well as myself, sensed some sort of interference before the explosion. He ordered the Colonel and Mr. Hogan, as well as the Wakandan Armor guard to evacuate before it happened. Boss was in distress over seeing the Winter Soldier and was not compliant."
"Wakandan Armor guards..?" He wall walked toward the bathroom to dig up some clothes. "We only use the guard to escort prisoners.. " It took him a moment to register Friday's words, "Wait.. Barnes? Shit! She sent Barnes here?! What was she thinking! Gods.. Are Tony and Bruce alright? Did Barnes do something?"
"That would be a fat yes, kitty kitty! As far as Boss goes, I'm not sure. I'm not functioning in the workshop or the lower sublevels. Barnes was still in they cryo pod when it happened so he wasn't the cause. Since I can't detect if there is any structural damage to the tower or arc reactor, full evac protocol was activated. You must leave the tower now sir. Spiderman has entered the building and is on the way to you, he'll be able to help you out of the tower."
T'Challa found a pair of scrubs in the small bathroom, Hello Kitty of all the things, and pulled them on, "I'm not leaving the tower until I make sure Tony is fine, I owe him more than I can ever repay, and if I have to crawl to where he is then I will! Now tell me where the workshop is."
"Sorry sir, but my main priority is to oversee the safety of all the towers inhabitants. I can't let you down there in your current condition. You can't get inside anyway, the blast doors are down and won't open until an override is given."
"Down? It's in the basement then? No power means no elevator. Great, what floor is this again?" He hoped he wasn't to far up.
"Ninety six," a voice stated as it ran into the room, "and I know I'm a smart guy but you don't look like your gonna be capable to trek down 96 flights of stairs and 12 sub-levels to get to the shop. Friday filled me in on everything." Peter tapped his ear as he walked forward to take T'Challa's weight against him, then half carried him out the door. "Let's go. The tower is almost empty, it has some wicked fast evac procedures. Although I'm kinda worried that the doctors just left you up here. I should probably mention that to Mr. Stark. Aren't you glad I'm in the neighborhood, you're the third cat I pulled from a rooftop today!"
T'Challa smacked at him, "You have spent to much time with Tony. I'll get down to that workshop, or I will die trying." T'Challa wheezed out as they made their way to the stairs.
"Yeah I thought you might be a stubborn one, so I'm gonna go against better judgement and 'assist' you. I'm just gonna repel us down the stairway til we hit bottom. After that, I guess we'll just wing it, I'm not sure how to get in when it's in boom boom mode. I'm not leaving them down there either, better two than one, soo."
Peter kicked the door open and peered over the rail, then up toward the higher levels. It was more quiet in the stairwell and dark. The emergency lights were flickering. "Ok, piece of cake, put your wrists together."
T'Challa frowned but did as he was told. Peter held out his palm and with a flick had his arms secured tightly together.
T'Challa made a face at the white goo around his hands, "Is this substance coming out of you? That is disgusting."
Peter rolled his eyes, "You old people are all assholes, you know that! Put your arms around my neck, and hold on, I just want to make sure you don't fall off on the way down. I was gonna repel us down slooow, but since you offended my genius creation of synthetic webbing this way will work better. And please don't scream in my ear, my senses are still wacky from the alarm."
"Why would I scre-" he didn't get to finish since Peter grabbed him by his waist and jumped into the darkness below. Normally freefall had no effect on him but between his blurred vision and remaining nausea, the pull in his stomach had him screaming all the way down.
Jesus..What the hell just happened, Bruce thought, trying to piece the last few moments back together. His head had hit the floor so hard he had been woozy for a minute. Hulk was rumbling in the back of his mind, not sure what had happened either. He lifted his head with a pained groan, shaking bits of glass and metal from his hair as he tried to take in the turmoil around him. There was something on top of him, holding him down.
Somewhere in the room an alarm was blaring. He could smell the scent of an electrical fire.
"Jeez Big Guy, you couldn't have, I don't know... Woken up and helped me?"
'Banner not in danger. Tin Man just scared. Needed Banner more than Hulk.'
"Be that as it may.. Can I get a little help with the monkey on my back here?"
'Hulk confused. Hulk not smell monkey'
Bruce grunted, "Not a real... I was just- ugh, nevermind, the cabinet lying on us! A little help please!"
Hulk growled in response, but Bruce felt the surge of strength go through him and pushed himself up to his feet, sending one of Tony's many tool cabinets flying. He grimaced as it landed with a loud clang against the far wall, scattering tools and wires everywhere.
"Thank you.."
'Does Hulk need smash?'
Bruce gave a smirk, "Everything is already smashed!" He leaned back against the wall to catch his breath and take a good look around, extremely glad the others managed to squeeze out of the room before Tony had lost control of whatever new skill Extremis had blessed him with.
The blast doors on the workshop had came down, trying to contain the worst effects of the blast. It was like an actual bomb had gone off in here. Glancing around Bruce noted the cables and wires that carried power from the arc reactor had blown straight through the heavily guarded walls. That was a cause for concern, something must have caused a massive overload for those cables to even move.
Wires dangled from the ceiling, sparks occasionally flying from them. Smoke billowed from multiple places, the red light from the alarm gave the room an evil glow. Workbenches, cabinets and shelves were overturned. Debris was everywhere..
Holograms danced wildly from their damaged sensors, flickering through lines of code faster than Bruce could ever process them.
Barnes cryo pod lay on it's side, the door opened with a large hole in the glass.
He took a step away from the wall, "Friday?"
No response. Wasn't that perfect.
"Tony? Tony, where are you?" he called out. Oh God! Please let him be ok.. He made his way through the mess, working toward the last place he saw him. Through the smoky haze he came into view, still crouched down on the floor, his arms were wrapped around his head. His remaining Iron Man suits surrounding him.
Bruce rushed forward to help him, but came to a halt when several sets of blue eyes turned at his approach. There were only four now, Tony hadn't been rebuilt many suits after Ultron, but these four all looked right at him and raised a repulsor.
Uh-oh.. That's a little unsettling.
He held his palms up as a peace gesture, "Friday, it's just me. It's Bruce.. I'm just going to make sure Tony is ok."
The suits gave no response, the eyes stayed on him as he took a step closer. The nearest one tilted it's head much like Tony did when he was wearing it, it seemed like it was thinking, but they never lowered their guard.
Ok, if Friday were controlling them she would have responded to me, Bruce thought. So maybe it's not her.. Dear God, please don't let these go sentient. I can't deal with another Ultron.
He eased his way over to Tony, who didn't seem to be aware of what was happening. The Iron Men were watching their every move. He crouched in front of his friend, ever so slowly he reached out, not wanting to trigger the man into another episode of whatever happened earlier.
"Tony," he spoke softly, "Tony, hey, come on Tones." Bruce grabbed his arms, trying to ease them away from his head. Tony didn't have a scratch on him despite all the broken glass and twisted metal.
"Bruce.." Tony whispered, "Bruce.. Bruce, it hurts.. God, I can see everything. It's all inside my head. It's to much, I, I can't.. Handle this. My brain is going to overload.."
"Hey, hey Tony come on. We can figure out whatever this is. What do you see? I want to help you, but I need you to work with me. What do you see? Is it Extremis?"
Tony tried to wrap his arms back around his head, "Everything.." He rocked back and forth before falling onto Bruce. Bruce immediately wrapped him in a hug.
"My head, I can see it all.. Friday, the bots.. Codes, files.. The buzz, Bruce. It's like my brain connected to wifi and everything is pouring in, from everywhere, and I can't stop it.. God it just keeps coming. Peter.. Peter is coming down. Going in a vent.. Karen.. I can hear him talking, through his suit, in my head.. I can't get it out!" Tony sobbed out.
"Tony, Tony come on, focus. Stay with me here! Deep breaths! Tony, can you look at me? Let me see your eyes."
He moaned painfully, but complied. Bruce bit back a breath, Tony's eyes were once again the color of the arc reactor. He hugged him tighter. He needed to try and calm him down, he was still breathing rapidly and most likely on the verge of another panic attack and another kaboom.
"Tony, I know it's hurting you, and I know you're scared, but I need you to calm down. Somehow, I think Extremis has mutated itself. Somehow, it's letting you control things, see these things, inside your own mind. Ok.. When you panicked before, you lost control over it. I need you to get that control back. Tony, can you do that? All these things you see in your head, can you see the alarm? Focus on that Tones. Focus and turn it off.."
Tony shook his head rapidly, "I'm scared Bruce.. I don't know how this happened! What if.. What if I can't stop it?"
Bruce gave him a firm shake, "You can do this Tony, I know you can. I'm right here, I'm not leaving you. We will figure this out together! Find it, Tony. Focus on it. Shut it down."
Tony closed his eyes, breathing deep he tried to pinpoint one small dot of information flowing through his head. Bruce wanted him to shut off the alarm. Focus on that. Alarm. That particular alarm only worked if the reactor went offline. He needed to connect to the arc reactor.
Systems rolled by, he just needed to bring it forward. If this was like a giant file system he just needed to open the right file.
He pushed through until he found it. It was in emergency shutdown.
He focused, then pushed his mind forward, he latched on.
Reactor reboot. Reactor online. Override lockdown protocol. Alarm disengaged. Lights on. Fire suppression in sub levels activated. Connecting to Friday.
"Boss? Where are you?"
Would you believe your in my head? Or more likely my head is in your servers. Friday, begin a full diagnostic of every single system in the tower. Everything, lights, security databases, the works. Let's hope my meltdown only effected the lower levels. I want to make sure we're safe to stay here. I may have nearly killed us all. Get the architect in to check for structure damage. I'm not taking chances.
"On it Boss! I gotta say this is unusual for me. I feel like I'm being violated in my own server"
Unusual for you, my head might actually explode. I'll work my way out of your server baby girl, don't worry. I have no desire to stay here, my eyes feel like their popping out.
"Tony? God Tony, please answer me!"
He slowly brought himself out of brainer-net. He looked up at Bruce, "Ooowww!"
Bruce hugged him again, "Are you ok? Oh my God, that was terrifying!"
"My head hurts Banner, ease up a bit would you!"
"Sorry, sorry," Bruce let him go, "Your eyes are back to normal. Did that actually just happen? Tony, did you really just do all that with your mind?"
Tony moaned, looking around at the chaos. At least the lights were on, well the ones that survived his internal overload. And the fires were out.
"Oh shit, I'm like walking wifi! Why does weird shit always happen to me?" he visciously rubbed his face, "Why, Bruce? Why me?"
Bruce chuckled at him, "You're just lucky I guess."
"Uuggghh.. Oh shit! Shit! Where's the pod?!" Tony looked around worried, eyes wide and frightened. "Shit!"
The cryo pod had been knocked over and broken during the blast. Now Barnes was defrosting on the ground. Tony walked over and kneeled down to check for a pulse. Well he was still breathing, so at least Tony hadn't unintentionally killed anyone today. Even if he kinda wanted to.
"Is he alive?" Bruce questioned.
"Yeah, yea he's breathing, but we need to get him out of here before he wakes up. Cryo is toast, he's not going back in there."
Bruce pondered on it for a minute, "Is the Hulks room still stable. We can lock him in there, there's no possibility for escape and we can monitor him constantly."
"Yeah, yeah let's do tha-"
"Aaaaaahhhhh!" Came the dual set of screams from one of the ventilation shafts in the shop.
Tony shot to his feet and the armors turned their repulsors toward the new target. Bruce wondered if Tony was unconsciously controlling them or if they were working on their own.
A few seconds later Peter and T'Challa came crashing through the vent, dangling and tangled up messily in Peter's webbing. And obviously deep in an argument.
"See!" Peter gasped, "I told you I could lift the blast barrier!"
They were both upside down, swinging crazily in a circle.
"You almost cut off my head! Oh, God! I'm going to vomit again.. Make it stop spinning!" T'Challa cursed.
"Well, if you hadn't been crawling so damn slow I wouldn't have nearly dropped it on you!"
"I can barely walk! What in the name of Bast made you think I could crawl any faster?! And as I recall, it was your ass that I got stuck on! Stop eating junk foods!"
"Me! Your the one who can barely fit in the vents! What the hell do you eat in Wakanda? Elephants!?"
"Are you implying that I am fat?!" T'Challa spat at him.
"The vents are huuuuuge! You be the judge!"
Tony walked over to them and stopped their spin with a grin, "Ok, number one, T'Challa why aren't you in bed? Two, Peter why aren't you in school? And three... What do you eat in Wakanda?"
Bruce growled behind him, "After this is all over I'm taking a vacation. I'm going back to Knowhere or some other planet and you idiots are on your own! Now can we please get moving and get Barnes out of here before he wakes up and tries to kill us all!"
There was a small shuffle behind them, followed with a very faint, "I.. I don't want to kill anyone.. I never have.. Please. Please I promise I won't fight you. I'm so tired.." Barnes mumbled.
The armors whined, ready to strike.
"I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry. Please just make it quick," he cried, curling into a ball on the floor, "I don't want to fight anymore.. If you're going to kill me please be quick. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Tony studied the sobbing man before him intently. He was still a little blue, and had water drops dripping from his hair. It reminded Tony of a small, scared child.
"Well.. I wasn't expecting that."